Chuck Vs The Resident Alien
by Newton Ransom
Summary: Sarah's back from reassignment, and a new agent, a skeleton in Casey's closet, join them on a mission to change all missions. Chuck has more heartstrings plucked, and Casey starts debating on retirement. Hope you like it! It's my first Chuck fic!
1. Chuck Vs The New Girl

_Disclaimer: I don't own any of the following characters, games, movies, cars, and whatever else I may mention that is protected by copyright. The only material part of this story I own, other than the story itself, is Cassie, the rest of the credit goes where it is deserved._

**Chuck vs The Resident Alien**

Morgan was frantically trying to get Chuck's attention from across the Buymore. He was signaling towards an attractive brunette heading towards the Nerd Herd desk, a Dell XPS notebook tucked under her arm. "Welcome to The Buymore, How can I help you?" he asked, as she set down her laptop.

She smiled shyly. "I just moved up here, and I got this computer for school, but it doesn't want to work for me. Every time I try to get on the Internet, I get syntax or script errors. Normally, I'd fix it myself, but it is brand new and I don't want to void the warranty."

He took the computer from her and booted it up. "So what brings you to Los Angeles?" he asked.

"I'm doing my Grad school at UCLA."

"Oh, where'd you get your undergrad degree?"

"New Mexico State"

"So your really new to the area."

"Yes, and I need a job. I saw up front that your hiring, who do I need to talk to about getting a job here? "

Chuck smiled at her, and noticed her vaguely familiar blue eyes. "Me, actually. Yeah, I'm assistant manager. I could probably get you an interview tomorrow, if you want."

"Sounds good to me"

"Oh, and your computer will be ready by then... I'm sorry, I never did get your name?"

She offered him her hand."Cassie. And your...Chuck?"

"Yeah.Yeah I'm Chuck," he said, messing with his name tag. "Is Cassie short for Cassandra or something?"

"Yeah, actually, it is, but don't call me it." She smiled at him again, and turned to leave, almost running headlong into Morgan. "Uh, Hi."

"Hello, I couldn't't help but overhear that your new to the area. I could show you around, if you want?" Cassie half-glanced back at Chuck. "Morgan, man, don't scare away my customers."

"Sorry, man." He turned back to Cassie. "So, what do you say? I'm Morgan, Chuck's best friend. And you, are one beautiful alien."

"Alien?" she asked, skeptically. "Well, you said your from New Mexico. Area 51, Roswell? You get the drift."

"Unfortunately, yeah, I do. Anyway, I'm Cassie, but I already have the general idea, so I don't need a tour, but thank you anyway."

He walked her out of the store. "Well, if you ever feel you need that tour, you know where to find me."

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Cassie entered the Buymore after lunch, and headed directly for the Nerd Herd desk, for her first day of work. She felt herself being watched by two sets of eyes: those of Morgan, and those of John Casey. She adjusted her shirt collar uncomfortably, avoiding the gazes of both men. She carried on her first day of work as routinely as Chuck told her it would be, and never got any job bad enough for her Bachelors in Computer Sciences to be of any use to her. The day was long and tedious, and the constant menacing stare of John Casey was enough to make her want to crawl out of her skin. Around one, Morgan hawked down on her to get to know her.

"Hey, Cassie. What's up? How's it feel to be a Nerd?" She sighed. "Not bad, I guess."

"So tell me about yourself." He jumped up to sit on the counter. "Well, I'm from Roswell, New Mexico. I went to New Mexico State for Computer Sciences, and I'm going the go to UCLA for Programming. Your turn."

"Well, I'm from Encino, California, and I've never gone to college, but I'm an avid gamer."

"What games?" she asked, trying to ignore the fact that she was becoming increasingly repulsed by Morgan, and her growing curiosity of the Buymore's human resources policies. "Well, anything for Xbox Live, really. Halo, Call of Duty, oh and Guitar Hero.You?"

"I'm pretty good at Guitar Hero, I guess. I like the Final Fantasy Series, Medal of Honor, Metal Gear Solid, stuff like that. Alot of first-person shooters, but I do kinda get caught up in RPGs." She was relived that they had some common ground, because she figured the best way to become friends with Chuck would be to be as much like this guy as she could stomach.

"You should try Call of Duty. Me and Chuck play all the time, I could set you up an Xbox Live account, or you could play with us at Chuck's house, if he doesn't mind."

"I guess that sounds good. Yeah, if Chuck's...cool...with it, then I'll play with you guys sometime." Chuck had come back from lunch. "If I'm cool with what?"

"We were just talking, and she's never played Call of Duty, but she's into that kind of game, so I was thinking she could hang with us tonight, at your place, and play?"

"Yeah, I guess so. Sarah's...visiting family, so I should be free."

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Morgan succeeded in getting Cassie hooked on Call of Duty, unfortunately Chuck's Xbox payed the price. He sat back on his bed, watching the intense game of manhunt she and Morgan were engaged in, when Ellie knocked on his door. "Chuck, John's here," she told him when he opened the door.

"Thanks, sis. Um, could you tell him just to come on back?" she nodded and left, then was replaced by Casey in the doorway.

"Out here, Bartowski," he said, half pulling Chuck into the hallway. "Who's your new friend?"

"Cassie Creasey." he told him. "Uh-huh, and tell me Chuck, what do you know about her?"

"Well, she's 22, a graduate of New Mexico State University with a degree in Computer Sciences, she's living in LA because she got a scholarship to UCLA, and me and her get along quite well. Wait, why do you care?"

"Your supposed to run any new people you meet by me or Agent Walker. You're too valuable to fall into the wrong hands."

"Sorry, I forgot that you control my life. She's no harm, anyway Casey. I haven't flashed on her or anything. Anyway, I'm trying to be a friend, and you keeping me out here isn't helping me make that impression. However, you could join us if you really wanted to," Chuck offered, knowing he'd refuse. To his surprise, Casey showed himself into Chuck's room and sat down at his computer desk. Cassie and Morgan barely glanced up when he entered the room, but Cassie's back visibly stiffened.

When she and Morgan finished their round (Morgan won by one), Chuck introduced Cassie and Casey. " Cassie Creasey, John Casey. Um... you guys work together... Wow, I'm bad at this..." he trailed off. They shook hands, never breaking eye contact and barely smiling.

"Awkward" said Morgan, under his breath. Chuck looked around for some desperate way to get everyone out of the awkward situation they were in. Instead, Morgan's phone rang. He checked his messages, and jumped up from in front of the TV. "My lady is calling. Peace Chuckster, See ya, Cass. John... Never mind. " He showed himself out, leaving Cassie, Chuck, and Casey in an increasingly awkward situation.

"So I'm gonna go. I still have some moving in to do. It was...nice to meet you John, and I guess I'll see you both at work. Tell Ellie I'm sorry I couldn't stay for dinner." She practically fled from the room. Casey followed her after he heard the front door close. He caught her at her car, a black Ford Expedition, and pinned her against it before she heard him coming.

"Well that's rude," she said, forcing his arm off her throat.

"Beckman never told me you were going to be assigned to this case. So far as I'm concerned, your a threat, Cassandra," he told her, keeping her pinned to the car.

"I'm covert, and Chuck and Agent Walker aren't supposed to know who I am, and me and you aren't supposed to have established contact, except for casual in passing at the Buymore and whatnot. That way, Agent Walker or Chuck don't get suspicious, given your lack of charisma and social skills."

"That still doesn't explain why General Beckman didn't inform me." He pulled her into a makeshift choke hold and drug her to his apartment. In his apartment he wretched her arm around behind her back and contacted General Beckman. "Is Cassandra supposed to be on this case, General? No one informed me, and she's awfully close to the intersect for me to not care, so I don't know if she's to be trusted until you clear her." Casey snapped at the general, before she got a chance to say anything.

"Ow...Major, your breaking my arm. Let go." Cassie was trying to work her way free of Casey's grasp.

"General?" Casey asked. Beckman nodded and Casey let go of Cassie. "Yes, Agent Casey is there on my orders, with Agent Walker's current absence, I thought it was best to have an extra agent on the case."

"And when she returns?"

"Then, depending on the situation, she might stay, or she might be reassigned. The only record of her is in the Intersect, so while Agent Walker doesn't know who she is, Bartowski might recognize her, eventually. Let's try and prevent that from happening." General Beckman signed off.

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Chuck had noticed that Cassie had an unusually high tolerance for Morgan, but today he seemed to be getting to her. He had spent the entire afternoon ranting to her about his 7 and a half hour long Halo 3 round last night, and the fact that he was running on 6 Red Bulls and a full Throttle. "Morgan," she warned. Chuck did a double take at all to familiar threatening look on her face. Morgan noticed it too. ." Wow, dude...sorry dudette. When your pissed off, you look just like Casey."

"I'm going to hurt you," she finished her warning, unscathed by Morgan's comment.

"Creasey. Go help Lester and Jeff in the storage cage with those computers," called Big Mike, ruining any chance she had of actually hurting Morgan.

She went back to the storage cage, happy to escape from what may have turned into another awkward situation between her, Casey, Chuck, and Morgan. She worked well under pressure, but the nature of that pressure may have ended up breaking her demeanor. She knew it meant hours of tedious, mindless work in the cage, but it gave her a chance to get in close to Chuck's other friends. Jeff turned out to be an aging alcoholic; even now, during work hours, the scent of hard liquor and cheap beer hung over him. Lester, on the other hand was young, and sober by the look of him. He showed potential for the temporary friendship she was looking for. Jeff was half passed out over one of the desks, so she joined Lester at the other one. She had the charisma that Casey was lacking, and she smiled at Lester as she sat next to him amid the stack of mid-90 Compaq's. He swallowed hard and tried several times to say hi.

"Your Lester, right? I'm Cassie. Big Mike told me to come help you out with the computers."

"Lester? Oh yeah that's...that's me. I'd love the help, but if you don't want to help, I'll cover for you," he offered, choking over his words.

"No it's fine. I really don't mind. These are pretty easy.They just kind of smell funny."

"That? Oh no, thats Jeff," he laughed nervously. "So, what brings you to the Nerd Herd? I mean, like why do you work here, of all places?"

Cassie laughed back, and answered him, the same as she had told Chuck. This was all like high school. Say what you need to say to be liked, and only that. Fitting in was too easy.

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Chuck ended up working overtime to help Cassie with the overwhelming amount of computers left to fix. Every month or so they'd get a load like this to fix, and it's normally no big deal. Unfortunately, Big Mike made the mistake this month of sending a new girl back to work on them with Lester, so the only work that got done was what Cassie had done while Lester ogled her. Casey, although off himself, insisted on staying to watch over Chuck and Cassie. He hung in the shadows, so Chuck and Cassie pretty much ignored him. After hours of pointless conversation and many computers mended, they called it a night. It was almost 10, and Morgan had called Chuck like ten times, looking for a Call of Duty tournament. Cassie had a tower taken apart, and she was putting it away on a higher shelf, but she misbalanced it and it fell, slicing her right arm open. Chuck looked away, avoiding the urge to puke, while she and Casey cleaned it up and stopped the bleeding with her sleeve.

"It's okay Chuck, you can look now, no more blood" Cassie told him, clutching her torn sleeve to her wound.

Chuck turned to look back at her hesitantly. "Oh wow, thats a nasty..."

"Chuck..." warned Casey, recognizing the glazed over look in his eyes. Dozens of pictures flashed before his eyes. A file with Cassie's picture on it; a matching one for Casey; a set of blueprints for a B-2 spirit stealth bomber; a GPS tracker radar; penguins in the Arctic; Cassie, younger, passed out on dark dank concrete with a bloody gash up her right arm and her neck, with her left arm bent at an unnatural angle, and blood running from her nose and mouth, bruises welling all over her body; transcripts from New Mexico State, labeled NSA; transcripts from Berrendo Middle School, labeled CIA; a picture of Casey, a woman, and a young baby; jars of strange specimens; electrified fences topped with barbed wire in the desert; a fleet of stealth bombers, grounded in the Arctic; and a child's depiction of aliens, along with a self drawn family portrait, and a picture of men in black suits and sunglasses, paper clipped together with a post-it note that read Cassandra Casey, age 6, in a CIA file.

"...scar" he finished his earlier statement. "You...wow...your a covert NSA agent since you were 15 when..." Casey grabbed Chuck and covered his mouth, dragging him to the home theater room. He contacted General Beckman. "General, Cassandra's been compromised. Bartowski flashed on her."

"How much does he know?" she asked

Casey let go of him. "Um..She's a covert agent for the NSA. Has been since she was 15, when she was kidnapped and tortured, by the CIA, it seems, after refusing to use knowledge she picked up in her childhood to help them. Her real name is Cassandra Casey, and with how much I saw Casey in that flash, I'd assume she's his daughter, or something. I saw something about, um, Area 51, and Hangar 18, at the, uh, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, um, I think she has something to do with Stealth Bombers in the Arctic, cause I got that kind of vibe from the flash, too...I don't know," he finished. General Beckman, Cassie, and Casey all looked at him incredulously.

"Wow, you saw practically my life story, in just a few seconds. That's freaky," Cassie said, completely monotone, not sure how she should react.

"Keep it quiet, Bartowski," Casey warned.

"As long as her cover is not blown to anyone else, she should be fine staying there. Just keep her cover as tightly woven as possible. Director Graham tells me Agent Walker should be back within the week." General Beckman signed off, and Casey and Cassie both rounded on Chuck.

"Whoa. Just the messenger, don't hurt me," he cowered. Cassie got to him first. She grabbed him by the front of his shirt. "I'm not going to hurt you now, but if you compromise me to the CIA I will kill you. There's a reason I'm covert." She let go off him and he backed away, discovering that he now had to deal with the temper of Casey twofold.

It was Casey's turned with Chuck. " I swear Bartowski, if you compromise her,you'll die a slow and painful death."

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"Hey Cassie, can I ask you something?" Chuck asked her, while they were stuck at a red light on there way to work. They carpooled, mostly because Chuck's car was bugged, so they could only have private conversations in hers.

"Not if it's stupid" she responded. She still was friends with Chuck, but since he flashed on her, she's been letting alittle more of her father's bitterness and sarcasm show through to her old demeanor.

"Not stupid, more personal. What did all those pictures mean when I flashed on you? I've seen alot of weird things before in my flashes, but it never mattered. It was never someone I knew personally, really. There was one thing with Sarah, but that was different. What was with all the Area 51 stuff I saw?"

She sighed reminiscently. "Well, when I was 5, I was abducted by aliens," she told him in complete seriousness. "They took me up in there aircraft, which crashed in Roswell. Alot of the things on board, alien embryos, life support systems, the aliens themselves, and, well, me, were taken to Area 51 for studies."

After a few minutes of silence, she burst out laughing. "Wow, Chuck. Did you actually believe me? You know I can't actually tell you that stuff."


	2. Ex's and Oh's

_Disclaimer: As I said in chapter 1, I don't own anything in this story except Cassie._

"And I so totally beat her, dude, But she won't admit it. I've never seen anybody play like that though, not even Chuck. Well, there was that one dude at the arcade, but it was such a close call with him," he told Anna and Lester enthusiastically. "Hey Chuck, you were there, didn't I totally beat Cassie last night at Guitar Hero?"

"Hmmm...Oh yeah, you beat her, but only because you gave her the controller with the sticky strum bar. She would have beaten you if the controller hadn't acted up."

Cassie smiled at him, happy that Chuck liked her enough to stand up for her against his best friend. "I think we should have a rematch. Lunch today, we'll play with the demo set in video games. What do you say, Morgan? Do you accept my challenge, or are you a coward?"

"Morgan Grimes is not a coward. I accept your challenge, oh great Guitar Hero ninja. Bring it on, but don't going crying to your traitorous buddy Chuck when I beat you fair and square this time." Morgan did his best ninja impression and misbalanced as Sarah approached.

She smiled brightly at the group. "Hi Chuck"

"Hi, Sarah. When you get back?" Chuck asked nervously, not sure how to bring up, or rather avoid bringing up, Cassie.

"Last night. How were things while I was gone?"

"Fine. No flashes, no ninjas, except Morgan of course. Oh, uh there's a new employee at the Buymore, more specifically the Nerd Herd. Um, her names is Cassie Creasey."

Cassie turned to face them at her name. "Ah this is her. Cassie this is my...friend Sarah, I told you about her, and Sarah...This is Cassie." Sarah offered Cassie her hand. "Nice to meet you. So are you and Chuck friends?"

"Yeah, you could say that. It was nice to meet you, and I look forward to seeing more of you, but for now I have work to do."

"She seems nice. It still doesn't mean anything. She just shows up out of the blue, I'm assuming, and you welcome her with open arms. Chuck I love it that your a trusting guy, but how do you know she's not some assassin who's going to kill you the moment she gets a chance?"

"Relax Sarah, Casey already ran a check on her. He didn't find anything. So she really is just a college student who needed a job to pay for school in the area."

"Right. Then how do you know she's not an NSA assassin or something? Casey could've lied."

"I really don't think so, seeing as..." They were interrupted by Morgan, sticking his head into say hi.

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Cassie approached Casey with a clipboard and a smile. He crossed his arms and glared at her. "Nice to see you too." She leaned over a shelf to hide her self from view. He leaned casually against the end shelf, looking bored. " So I'm just going to assume thats Agent Walker. Chuck wasn't subtle in the least in telling her about me, so she sent up the red flag, as the company is good for. Anyway, she's badgering Chuck about who I might be, and saying you could be lying about my file being clean, and now she thinks I'm an NSA assassin."

"Well looks like the CIA has finally got something right."

"What...What are you talking about? I'm not an assassin. I'm not you, as hard as that maybe for you to accept sometimes."

"Oh..Ouch. That hurt," Casey said sarcastically. "All I'm saying is that she's right in assuming your NSA, and in assuming that I'd lie to cover your ass '

"Oh...Wait, What?" Casey was already walking away.

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"Chuck, why was Cassie just talking to Casey, hmmm? I mean seeing as she's 'not' a spy or anything, and face it, he's not exactly friendly," Sarah asked, trying to catch Chuck bluffing.

"I think Big Mike told her to get orders from the greenshirts. Sarah she's not a spy. If you don't believe me ask her. Ask Casey." Sarah headed for her. Chuck tried to follow to keep Sarah from harassing Cassie, but Casey caught him around the chest before he caught up.

"She can take care of herself Bartowski. Besides, I don't think Agent Walker is going to go after her guns blazing, thats my area of expertise."

Sarah caught Cassie in the camera aisle. "Hi, Cassie. I just wanted to talk to you, personally."

"Um, OK Sarah...What's up?"

"Your friends with Chuck right? Nothing more?"

"Yeah. I'm not into Chuck like that. Don't get me wrong, he's a great guy and all, but I'm just looking for friends right now."

"Right. Look I don't know where you came from, and I don't really care. I won't have a problem with you as long as you don't hurt Chuck. If you do, then you'll have to deal with me." Sarah threatened. Cassie laughed as she walked away. She had a little bit of a size advantage on Sarah, and was faster than alot of peoples trigger fingers, so Sarah's threat didn't phase her. She watched as Sarah interrogated Casey.

"Is she NSA, Casey? Don't lie to me," she asked.

"Well, gee, Walker. I don't know. Have you tried asking her? It's not my job to keep track of every person in the NSA, or the Buymore, for that matter."

"How would it look if I approached a potential civilian and started harassing her about an agency that's spent years trying to convince the world it doesn't exist?"

"You'd look pretty crazy in her eyes, and you probably wouldn't look to good in Graham's eyes, either. Plus then I would have to kill you for compromising the mission. If you think she could potentially be a civilian, well with how sharp you are, Walker, she probably isn't," he retorted sarcastically.

"Don't mock me, Casey. I know you know, either way. Tell me the truth."

"Fine. No, she's not. There, you happy?"

She stalked off to find Chuck. "Chuck. Hey. So tell me about Cassie."

Chuck looked nervous. Sarah was flushed with anger from her argument with Casey, and still seemed pretty pissed off."Well, Sarah, what do you want to know?"

"Whatever you want to, or need to tell me, Chuck. Anything interesting, important, whatever."

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"Chuck's gonna crack like an over boiled egg. I should go pull a Morgan," Cassie told Casey, as they watched Chuck squirm under her gaze.

Her grunted at her."Leave him alone. It'll be good for him. Besides, what's the worst that'll happen? He'll crack and tell her your an NSA agent, maybe even your true identity, and relation to me, but what's she gonna do about it? You can't actually be afraid of Walker, are you?"

Cassie looked skeptical. "Well, no. I could probably bench press Blondie, but she could turn me into the CIA."

"Yeah, cause that's stopped you before."

"You know, I'm starting to realize why none of my teachers found my sarcasm amusing, since I'm really starting to hate it, too."

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Cassie let herself into Chuck's room through his window and plopped down on the bed next to a sleeping Chuck. He jumped up, started. "Holy crap Casey...Sorry Cassie. What are you doing, its 3 o'clock in the morning."

"Well Chuck, I needed to talk to you, alone. I would've called, actually I did, but you didn't answer. And Casey's fine, as long as we're not around, well, Casey."

"So I'm up now, what did you want to talk about?Wait, how did you get in my room? Never mind. Morgan Door, NSA agent, yeah I know."

"What did you tell Sarah? Hm...Bartowski.You didn't compromise me, did you?" She grabbed him around the shoulders.

"Ow...Ow. No I didn't. I told her. Ow. I told her the same story you told me. Ow. I swear."

"What about me and Major?"

"Major? Oh, Casey. Well it's nice to see the bonds of family. Ow...Ow. I think she already thinks your related, but I swear I didn't tell her anything."

She let go of him and he rubbed his arms. "Ow. Casey, not cool. Look, as much as I appreciate nice friend-to-friend chats at 3 AM, I have to work in a few hours, and I would appreciate some sleep. Goodnight Cassie."

"Goodnight Chuck." She showed herself back out through the window, but instead of leaving, she headed for Casey's apartment. She saw that there was a light on, so she knew she wouldn't be bothering him. She raised her hand to knocked and he retched open the door. "What?" he grunted.

"Nice to see you too, Major. Can I come in?"

He stepped back to let her in. "Charming place you got here," she said sarcastically, looking around at the various surveillance equipment set up in his living room.

"Hm. What do you want?"

"Nothing really. I just thought you'd appreciate some company."

"Well I don't, but I know that doesn't make any difference, because you're going to stay anyway. Now, what do you really want? And think carefully before you answer, since I already know the answer."

"Really Major? And what might my reason be?"

"Chuck's got you all uptight. And I don't mean about Agent Walker."

"You know what? I think this was a bad idea. I'm gonna go now."

"Hmpf" he said as she showed herself out.

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At work Cassie took care to avoid Casey as much as possible, but that turned out to be harder than she expected. "Hey," he snapped from behind her in the storage cage, where she had taken to hiding.

"Cassandra, you didn't really think you could avoid me all day did you?"

"I was hoping I could. Look I really don't want to hear whatever stupid, sarcastic quip you have about some moronic moment of weakness I made the mistake of showing, so if that's what your here to say, save your breath."

"I wasn't..." he stopped as Sarah entered the cage. "Hi, Casey, Cassie. Chuck said you guys were back here. I just wanted to talk to Cassie." She smiled at them both, but neither of them returned the smile. They both faced her, arms crossed, every line in their faces set with dislike.

"Casey, do you mind?" she asked, trying to get him to leave.

"Actually I do. I'm sure anything you have to say can be said in front of me."

"OK, fine. Well, Cassie. I just wanted to apologize for what I said yesterday. I'm sorry we had to start off on such a bad foot, and I'd like to make it up to you. How about a girls night out, just the two of us, tonight? Hm? Probably dinner, a movie, some shopping, if you want?"

Casey narrowed his eyes at her. Cassie, on the other hand, agreed. "Yeah, sure that sounds great." She smiled at Sarah uncharacteristically bright, and Sarah returned the smile. Casey looked between the girls, confused, and left the cage, shaking his head. Once he was gone, they both dropped the fake smiles. "Where do you live?" Sarah asked.

"How about you just pick me up from Chuck's tonight, whenever."

"Works for me" Sarah replied.


	3. Dinner Revival

_Disclaimer: I'm gonna play this disclaimer alittle differently than normal ones. To those of you reading this who read Chapter 2, Ex's and Oh's, before I edited it, an error on my behalf made my character, Cassie, sound like an Amazon. She's not. I overexagerated a bit, trying to make the likeness between Casey and Cassie obvious. It's fixed now, but I just wanted to clear that up. I guess she would be just alittle taller than Sarah, probably somewhere between Chuck and Casey's height._

Cassie knocked nervously at Chuck's door. Ellie answered. "Hi, Cass. Wow, you look nice, what's the occasion?" she asked, looking over Cassie, who had ditched her usual black Dickies, sneakers, t-shirt, and hoodie for a nicer blue camisole, black shrug, and ballet flats. "Well, me and Sarah are hanging out tonight, and I wanted to look halfway decent. What do you think? Did I pull of halfway decent?"

"Yes you look great. Come on in. She's not here yet, but Chuck and Morgan are in Chuck's room and John and Devon are in the dining room" Ellie told her, ushering her into the apartment.

Cassie joined Casey and Devon in the kitchen. Devon was trying to get Casey to go bungee jumping with him, and Casey looked minorly amused. When she walked in the room they stopped talking. Devon looked her over. "What's up, Cass? Got a hot date tonight?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact, I do."

"Who's the lucky fellow?"

"Actually I'm going out with Sarah. Not in that sense, but still, I figured I should look nice."

"Awesome," he said.

"Great. Um, Ellie, I'm gonna go hang with the guys for alittle, if you don't mind." She showed herself down the hall to Chuck's room, knocking as she opened the door. "Hey Chuck, Morgan."

"Hey Cass. What's up?" they both replied, not looking up from their video game.

"Oh nothing much. Just hanging out before Sarah comes to pick me up for our hot date tonight." Morgan dropped his controller, and Chuck stared at her. "I thought that would get your attention. Relax Morgan, we're just hanging out as friends. Chuck, did Sarah say anything to you about us hanging out today? Any plans that she had or anything?"

"No, Cassie, I wasn't even aware of the fact that you two were going out tonight, so no, if she has any strange, sadistic plans for you, she failed to mention them to me."

"Okay then," she said as Ellie opened the door. "Chuck, Cassie, Sarah's here."

Chuck shut off the game and the three of them went out to the living room. When Sarah and Cassie met eyes, they smiled at each other, but Cassie's smile didn't extend to her eyes. Sarah, however, didn't seem to notice. "Hi Cassie. Are you ready to go?"

"Yes, I am. And you look very nice Sarah," she said, not even trying to keep the sarcasm out of her voice. "Have you decided what you want to do tonight."

Sarah ignored the compliment right along with the sarcasm. Cassie was getting ready for whatever awaited her once she was alone with Sarah. She saw right through her disguise and knew instantly that Sarah wasn't really trying to make nice with her. "I'm not sure, I was thinking a movie, but we need to leave soon if we want to make the showing."

"Yeah OK, sounds good to me. See you guys later." She left with Sarah. Once they were in Sarah's car, Cassie asked "So, I know your not really trying to make nice, what do you really have planned for the evening?"

"What do you mean, Cassie? I really do want to be friends with you, start over, you know?"

Cassie just grunted in reply.

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They stood in the outside line forever, trying to decide what movie to see. Sarah wanted to see P.S. I Love you or Juno, but Cassie said she didn't like chick flicks. Cassie wanted to see One Missed Call or Cloverfield, but Sarah didn't like horror movies. They finally, after what seemed like forever, settled on The Bucket List. When they went to buy the tickets though, they were sold out, so they ended up just hanging out at the mall. They wandered pointlessly, Cassie scoffing at the ridiculously priced outfits in the windows of all the stores Sarah stopped to look at, and Sarah snickered at the posters in the windows of the shops Cassie wanted to go in. Even when it came time for dinner, they disagreed on where to eat. Sarah wanted Chinese, Cassie wanted Mexican. Sarah wanted healthy, Cassie wanted good, all in all they had spent the better part of the night bickering back and forth like sisters. They finally hit Arby's, at roughly 9 o'clock. Sarah's phone rang during the uncomfortable silent dinner, Cassie caught a glimpse of the caller ID before Sarah snatched it off the table and silenced it.

"I didn't realize you and Casey were friends."

"We're not, per se."

"Care to elaborate?"

"Not really"

"OK, Fine" Cassie said snappily, returning the dinner to an awkward silence.

They left not long afterwards. But Sarah, instead of leading Cassie back towards the car, she led her to the top deck of the near abandoned parking garage. Cassie laughed as they reached it. "Wow Agent Walker. I'm pretty amazed at how long it's taken you to get me alone. Well you've got me now. What are you going to do, kill me?"

"Who are you really and who do you work for?"

"Now you see this is no fun. Your interrogating me and actually expecting me to tell the truth, but you haven't hurt me once, I'm not tied up, and your not pointing the gun your hiding in you boot at me. Do you really think this is going to work? Well, truth be told Agent Walker, I kind of like you, so I'll tell the truth. My real name is Agent Cassandra Casey, better known as Casey Casey, and I work for the NSA."

Sarah moved reflexively for her gun. So did Cassie. "Relax, Agent Walker. I'm not here to hurt Chuck. I'm here to protect him. It wasn't him I was hiding from, it was you. In fact, Chuck already knows exactly who I am, so does Casey. You weren't told, neither was Director Graham, because the CIA has a prize on my head. They have since I was 5. I'm not here to hurt anybody."

"How am I supposed to believe that?"

"I don't know how to make you believe that. We could go back to Chuck's, he and Casey could tell you, but you can't tell Graham, he'll have me hunted, and you can't tell Beckman, because she'll pull me off the case."


	4. Chuck vs The Compromise

_Disclaimer: Once again, I own nothing but Cassie. Plus, my Italian is a little rusty, so I'm sorry if you can't understand it._

Sarah and Cassie found themselves on The Bartowski's doorstep, fighting over who was going to knock, when Casey came up behind them. "You ladies have fun?" he asked, not really caring.

"Yeah Casey, it was a blast. So why did you lie to me? About Cassie?" asked Sarah.

Casey glared at Cassie, who smiled chessily and shrugged. "Hey don't look at me, she figured it out before I said anything."

"Great." Casey pounded on Chuck's door.

"Hey...Guys. What's up?" Chuck asked, as he opened the door to find the three of them glaring at him.

"Awesome and Ellie home?" Cassie asked.

"No," he answered as they showed themselves in. "Um...Guys? What's going on?"

"Sit, Bartowski," Casey ordered. "Cassie's compromised herself to Walker. You know what that means?"

"Yeah. Yeah I do. It means by this time tomorrow Echo Park's going to be swarming with CIA agents, looking for Cassie," Chuck answered, his face glazed over.

"Then what will happen? Hm, Chuck, do you remember what I told you?" Cassie pressed.

"If they find you, and they will find you, you'll be tortured, and probably killed, and I'll be down another friend."

"And who do you think I'm gonna come after if that happens?" Casey threatened.

"Me?"

"Hm," was Casey's response.

Sarah spoke up. "Only if I turn her in."

Casey, Cassie, and Chuck stared at her. "Which you will," Casey chided.

Sarah looked up at him solemnly, not sure what to do, then buried her face in her hands to think.

Cassie was pacing back and forth like a caged dog, and Casey sat on the edge of the couch, his hands clenched tightly together to keep form hitting anyone. Chuck, not exactly sure what was going on or how he got dragged into it, kept standing up, walking around the couch, and sitting back down. He didn't know what he was supposed to do or say, and didn't know who he should be trying to comfort.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Sarah looked up at everyone. She sighed. "Chuck, come with me, please." She led him back to his room and closed the door. "Chuck, how much do you like Cassie? I mean honestly?"

"Well, alot, I guess. I mean, she has her, uh, quirks, her Casey-like affinity's, but that's just part of who she is. She's a great person Sarah, and I known she won't try and kill me, she's just not like that. Yeah, she has hurt me, I think my arms are still bruised from the other morning, but that was all because she was freaking out cause she thought I may have compromised her. I know I haven't known her that long, and I don't really know her that well, either, but I don't know what I'd do, if I lost her."

"Do you love her?" Chuck noticed that Sarah looked like she was going to cry.

"Well, yes. But more in a 'friend' way than a, uh, say you and me, formerly, way. I mean it could eventually be like that, but I don't know, you know? It's...It's very hard to explain. Sarah, please don't turn her in. I just..."

"Relax Chuck. I'm not going to turn her in."

"Wow, Sarah, thank you so much." He hugged her.

"Yeah, Chuck. Your welcome." She went back into the living room, to find Cassie and Casey deep in conversation. They both stopped and stared at Sarah, their arms crossed, their faces set. Sarah paused like she was going to say something, then continued out the door. Cassie tried to go after her, but Casey grabbed her. She pulled away from him and rounded on Chuck. Chuck backed away instinctively, but when he saw that he was near tears, he smiled.

She glared at him, and he shook his head. Cassie started laughing and hugged Chuck. Chuck patted her uncomfortably on the back. Casey raised his eyebrows, not completely sure of what was going on, but when Cassie turned around with a big smile on her face, he got it. "So Walker's not turning you in? As if I'm surprised."

"So...what? You want me to get turned in?" Cassie asked.

"No, I'm just used to Agent Walker giving in whenever Chuck cries."

"Hey, Hey. There was no crying," corrected Chuck indignity.

---------------------------------------------

"Hey Sarah," greeted Cassie brightly. She was leaving the Buymore as Sarah was coming in.

"Hi, Cassie. You leaving early."

"Yeah, well I've been working overtime everyday this week, and since Chuck's assistant manager, he let me out early."

"Oh, lucky you. Speaking of, do you know where Chuck is?"

"Um...I think he's in the lounge, might be in the Home Theater Room, I'm not completely sure. Good luck finding him."

"Yeah, thanks. I'll probably see you later."

"Bye." 'How stupid am I? I'm now in debt to the CIA, I'm never going to live this down. But maybe...Nah, Sarah's not that nice.' She was startled out of her musing by her cell phone ringing. The tune of Nickelback's 'Side of a Bullet' told her it was Casey. "What?"

"Where are you?"

"In my car, about to leave, mio regolatore, Why?"

"Get back in here for briefing."

"Sì dirigere il mio conquistatore."

"Chiudere in su, Perra."

"That's not nice."

"No one ever said I was nice."

Back in the store Casey lead, or rather practically dragged her, to the home theater room. "Cassie, it's about time you joined us," said General Beckman. "I understand you've been compromised." Casie glared at Casey, who shrugged. "I also understand that Agent Walker is not turning you over to the CIA, because she believes you to be an important asset to the case, which is why I'm going to give you your case assignment." Cassie and Casey exchanged glances. "There is a known Afghani terrorist circle in the area, they have previously only been a threat to Great Britian. But they are staying in The Grand Marx Hotel, and we have received Intel that they may be planning an attack on either LAX or the Federal Building. Your job, Agents Casey, is to find out where they are going to hit, and stop them. Bring 'Intersect' of course, and Agent Casey..."

"Yes?" they both answered.

"Cassandra, be careful, seeing as you are in debt to the CIA." The screen went black.

"OK, so this oughta be fun," said Cassie.

Casey glared down at her. "Your more work than your worth."

"I feel so loved."


	5. The Mission

_Disclaimer: I don't own anythig, ladeeda, you know the drill. And my arabic is as bad, if not worse, than my Italian, so, sorry._

"This is the Grand Marx? It's not very...grand. Why would a bunch of Afghani..." Chuck was cut off by Cassie covering his mouth.

"Low profile, Chuckles. That means not drawing attention to ourselves, by, I don't know, say, talking about what we're doing."

"Come on. Standing in the doorway isn't to wise a decision either." Sarah pulled Chuck of to one side of hotel Lobby, Casey and Cassie followed.

"What exactly are we supposed to do here?" Chuck asked.

"Shut up," growled Casey.

""Won't it be alittle obvious that we don't belong here, seeing as, well, we're white?"Chuck asked again.

"Shut up," Casey ordered again.

"But..."

"Shut up."

"Fine." He mocked him behind his back.

Sarah leaned towards him. "He can see you. The wall is mirrored."

"Oops..." Chuck ducked behind Cassie, using her as a shield between him and Casey. "Hey, guys. Don't mean to be a, uh, nudge, but, um, ring leader, twelve o'clock."

"مرحبا أنت من," he said to the group at large.

"Uh, uh what?" asked Chuck, but Cassie stepped forward.

"ممثلات, من الحقوق مجموعة. من عة رحبا مجممن."

"Your not welcome here," he responded. He turned and signaled to other men in the room, who started approaching them.

"Oh crap," said Cassie.

"What do you say to him?" asked Sarah.

"Ambassadors to the peacecorp," Cassie gasped.

"Layoff Walker. They would've come after us no matter what any of us told her."

"Um, I know I'm not the smartest person, but um, shouldn't we, more specifically, me, be running?" Chuck asked.

"Upstairs, meet us on the top floor," Sarah told him.

Casey went for his gun. Cassie grabbed his arm. "If you pull out your gun, everyone will be after us, not just the terrorists."

He growled. "Fine, got anymore Arabic that's going to get us out of this?"

"Nope."

The terrorist group had reached them, all of them had guns beneath their jackets. They lead them upstairs, one at a time. Sarah was taken to a third floor hotel room, Casey to the basment, and Cassie to the top floor.

--------------------------------------------

"منإرتكب نستخدم في?" an interogater asked Sarah. She kept her mouth closed. "No Arabic? Fine. Who do you work for?" She still didn't answer. He aimed his gun between her eyes. "I know your not the Peacecorp. Who are you really? Homeland security? FBI? What about your friends? They the same?"

----------------------------------------------

Casey was being interogated in a more old fashion style. He was tied to a chair in a basement storage block. All the lights were off, except a desk lamp someone was shining in his face. "Who do you work for?" they asked. He didn't answer and he was punched in the chest. He groaned, "your gonna have to do better than that."

"Fine," they pulled out a gun. "Who do you work for?"

"Department of Homeland Security," he told him.

"See was that so hard? What about your friends?"

"Civilians. They work for the Peacecorp. They don't know about your plot to blow up Los Angeles International."

---------------------------------------------

Cassie was escorted through the top floor, a guy on either side, and one with a gun to her back. They heard scuffling up the hall and they all pulled out their guns. "Dammit Chuck," Cassie cursed under her breath. She punched one of her captors in the face, elbowed another in the stomach, and freed herself from their grasps. She took off down the hall towards Chuck. He was cornered by one of her former captors. "Who are you?" he asked. "Charles...Charles Carmichael," he stuttered. Cassie caught his eye and mouthed 'Peacecorp'. "Of...Of the Peacecorp." Cassie nodded and grabbed Chuck's interegator. She snapped his neck and grabbed Chuck's hand.

"I flashed, on those guys. They're Muhammad Adham and his, croonies or whatever you want to call them. They're behind the bombs Beckman told us were being planted.And Cassie, not to be a pansy or anything, but I'm freaking out."

"Ok, uh, Sarah is a few floors below, I'm not sure where Casey is." She spoke into her watch. "Casey, where are you?"

"Basement. I'll be up in a minute," he answered.

"I'm taking Chuck to the roof. Agent Walker is on the third floor. Find her and meet us up there."

"Roger."

"Come on Chuck. There should be a 'copter up there in a few minutes." She took Adham's gun and led Chuck to the roof.

--------------------------------

Casey, having fought his way away from his captors, took off for the third floor. He found Sarah in a hotel room guarded by a large guy with a machine gun. "Well thats not very subtle," Casey said. He grabbed the guy's gun before he could aim it at him. He knocked him out with the butt of his own gun, and busted into the room. The guy in the room turned his gun on him, but Casey was faster. He shot him in the head, and untied Sarah. "Chuck and Cassie are on the roof. Lets go."

-------------------------------

Cassie and Chuck were followed on to the roof. "So, Peacecorp, huh? Who do you really work for?"

Chuck turned to run, but was grabbed by Adham. "Cassie...Cassie," he yelled. She pulled out her gun. "Let him go," she warned.

"Why should I? It's not like you could shoot me without hitting him," he mocked back. Cassie aimed her gun at several points, before letting it fall to her side. "I like the way you think, now drop your weapon," he ordered.

"Not until you let go of him."

"Fine." He backed away from Chuck as Cassie lowered her gun to the ground. "Chuck, run. Go find Casey and Sarah. I'm sure you can figure it out from there," Cassie told him. Chuck went to leave, but Adham turned his gun on Cassie. "Leave the roof and I'll kill her."

"Chuck don't worry about me. Go." He stayed. "Dammit Chuck that's an order. Go!"

Cassie tried to get her gun while Adham was distracted by Chuck, but he wasn't distracted enough. He unloaded three rounds with precision aim; Chuck screamed like a girl and passed out when he saw her hit the ground.


	6. The Photo Album

Chuck was leaned against the Nerd Herd desk, tapping a pen compulsively against the countertop. Morgan was jumping up and down in front of him, trying to get his attention. "Hey, Chuck! Earth to Chuck. Come back to us." He waved his hands in front Chuck's glazed over eyes. "Hey man. What's the matter?"

"Hmm? Nothing Morgan. I'm just...tired," he lied.

"OK. Hey are we still on for tonight? You know, Halo night, take-out, Jet Li versus Jackie Chan? Don't tell me you forgot?"

"How could I forget you? Yeah, we can meet at my place when I get off work."

"Uh, Chuck? You are off. Your shift ended 20 minutes ago." Morgan knocked on his head. "Where is your head today Chuck?"

"I don't know Morgan." He raised his eyebrows at him as he clocked out.

"Well then get it in the game, man. You can't beat me at Halo with your head in the clouds. Actually, you can't beat me at all, but I try not to rub it in."

"Yeah thanks for the support buddy, I feel great about playing you now."

"Where's Cassie? Isn't she coming?"

"I, uh." He looked frantically around the Buymore for Sarah or Casey, not sure what to say to Morgan. He found Casey, and told Morgan to hold on.

"Come on man. Don't leave me now. Where's your A game? Casey doesn't have it. Oh come on." Chuck had already left and joined Casey.

"Go away," Casey told him.

"What did we just talk about with Isla? Just talk to me, buddy." He patted Casey on the back, who growled.

"Her funeral is on thursday, but he's not invited. You can tell him she's dead, but not how she died. You've gotten pretty good at lying, so tell him what you want." He walked away, obviously not wanting to talk about it.

Chuck returned to Morgan's side. "Um, man, I'm not sure how to tell you this. Cassie is, uh..."

"What man? I can take it. Tell me."

"She's dead." Morgan stopped dead in his tracks and Chuck rubbed his eyes to keep from crying.

"What...What happen? How is she dead? She can't be dead. She's the only girl I actually get along with, other than Anna, of course. But...Whoa. Cassie Catastrophe kicked the bucket? Cassie never dies."

They were in the parking lot and Morgan let himself into the Herder. "Video games versus real life Morgan. Everybody dies," Chuck told him as he climbed into the Herder too. A new wave of tears flooded his eyes as he started the car. He wiped them away. "It was a car crash. The other driver was drunk and speeding."

"Chuck man I'm sorry. I know you liked her." Morgan hugged him. Chuck patted him on the back awkwardly.

"Thanks Morgan."

"And I completely understand if you'd rather be alone tonight. We can reschedule."

"Thank you, Morgan. I'm sorry, but I think it's best if I be alone. But how about Friday?"

"Yeah man it's fine." Morgan let himself out of the car and grabbed his bike from out front of the Buymore. Chuck watched as he rode away. He left for home, but instead found himself at a cheap pizza parlor. He bought a six pack and two italian subs. Ten minutes later he was knocking at Casey's door. Casey didn't open the door with his usual vigor, and Chuck noticed that he looked like he had been crying.

"What?"

"Hey, I know how you like to cope with stuff, I figured we could cope together." He gestured at the six pack in his hand and Casey let him in. There was a photo album open on the table and Casey slid it away from Chuck and closed it. "What's that?" Chuck asked him, his mouth full.

"Photo album, obviously." Casey took the other sandwich from Chuck. "So you came over here, when your supposed to be hanging out with your loser friend, with stale hoagies and cheap beer, with hopes that you can cry on my shoulder and get me to cry back. Well I've got news for you, Bartowski. I'm not crying to you."

"I know, I just figured you could use someone to talk to. What's in the picture album?"

"Pictures."

"Of what or who?"

Casey growled. "Hey, big guy, I was just asking." Chuck backed away from him. Casey, on the other hand, thrust the photo album at him. Chuck looked through the photo album slowly, glancing up at Casey every now and then. The pages were full of pictures of Cassie. Everything from her hospital picture to her college graduation was in there. Chuck felt like he found out everything he didn't know about her, everything she couldn't tell him by looking through the photo album. There were pictures of her and her friends, who varied from goths to band geeks to cheerleaders and everything in between, pictures of her in cheerleading uniforms, one for the Berrendo Bulldogs, one for the Cresent Cobras, and one for the New Mexico State Lobos, twelve school pictures, even an army picture, with her in full Marine dress uniform in front of the flag. Chuck could tell they were all Cassie, but her hair and skin were alot darker. He figured she had changed appearance for cover. He closed the album and handed it back to Casey.

"I wasn't around much when she was growing up, but her mother gave me pictures whenever she could. She's really an amazing girl, isn't she?" Casey asked Chuck, his eyes unfocused.

"Yeah. I'm sorry, Casey. I feel so responsible. I was there, I could've stopped him, but I didn't and Adham got away."

"I think you should go," Casey told him.

"Can't I..." He trailed off as Casey moved towards him. "Bye," he said, fleeing for the door.


	7. Out Of Focus

Ellie looked in on Chuck, who was sitting on the edge of his bed, head in his hands. She came into the room and sat on the bed next to him. "Hey, Chuck," she said with her soft motherly tone. "I'm sorry I wasn't here when you left." She rested her head on his shoulder and hugged him.

"It's okay, Ellie." He picked up his discarded suit jacket from his floor and dug out his phone. He skimmed through the pictures, like he did when he thought Sarah was leaving him. He found it theropuetic. Ellie stayed with him for alittle while, before rubbing his back reassuringly. "Chuck, if you need to talk, you know I'm always here."

"Yeah thanks, sis." He returned to his phone. He kept coming back to the picture of her chasing Morgan around the cardboard cut out of Halo's Master Chief in the Buymore. The picture wasn't exactly sentimental, but it made him laugh, and that was what he figured was the best thing for him right now. He was thinking about the funeral. The weather had mocked them. It was so sunny and nice. What about the movies? It's always miserable and pouring down the rain when someone dies in the movies, he thought.

The smell of Ellie's baking was wafting through the house. He inhaled deeply and sighed. She always knows how to cheer me up, he mused. He changed out of his suit and into sweats and went out into the kitchen. Ellie was just pulling a fresh baked batch of double chocolate chocolatey chip cookies out of the oven. She smiled sadly at him when she saw him. He sat at the table and picked off the cookies before they even hit the cooling rack. She sat next to him and hugged him. "Hey, how are you doing?"

"Mmmm?" he answered, his mouth full of cookies. "I'm...I don't know, Ellie. I mean, I have this feeling that she's not really gone, you know? I know it sounds crazy, with having just got home from her funeral and all, but I just have this gut feeling that she's still here, that I'm going to go to work tommorrow and she's going to be there."

Ellie just hugged him again as the tears flooded his eyes. Their sentimental moment was interupted by a knock on the door. Chuck hastily wiped his eyes as Ellie answered it. It was Sarah.

"Hey," they exchanged. "Can I talk to you?" Chuck asked, gesturing down the hall. She nodded and smiled at Ellie, following Chuck down the hall.

"What's up?" she asked when she closed the door behind her.

"Do you think she's really dead?"

"What?"

"I mean, everyone thought Bryce was dead, but he wasn't really. And Isla, you and Casey thought she was dead, but she wasn't, so why can't we assume the same for Cassie?"

"I'm...I'm sorry Chuck, but it just doesn't work like that. We've told you before we can't save everyone. Everyone has to die eventually. I guess it was just her time."

"Yeah," Chuck nodded. His eyes had drifted out of focus and he stared pointlessly at the floor.

"Hey," he said after a little while.

"Yes?"

"You didn't even like Cassie, why were you at her funeral?"

She debated on lying to keep him from being hurt anymore, but decided it was best for him to know the truth. "Orders. Graham told me to go to make sure she was really dead, since the CIA does, or rather, did, have a prize on her head. Since she was on the roof alone with you, our reports had to say she was there, so then the CIA knew where she was. I had to make sure she was dead so the CIA would know whether or not to drop the prize, pretty much."

"Oh," was all he said.


	8. Realization

John Casey opened the door to his apartment, wanting nothing more than to go to bed. He hadn't been able to get out of work that day, and he had to go straight from Cassie's funeral to that hellhole. He hadn't had to deal with Chuck bothering him, since he got the day off, and the troll had kept his distance, too. But that hadn't made his day any better. He wanted to hurt somebody, to snap somebody's neck, to bust in some heads, to unload a clip through the wall, but he couldn't, he wouldn't. He had more control than that. He changed out of his hideous green Buymore shirt and into his more comfortable pajamas. The brown ones that Chuck had come to call his Jedi robe, to be specific. He made himself a sandwich that he didn't feel like eating, and sat down to listen in on Chuck's nightly routine. He heard Sarah's voice. "I should've figured," he mused to himself. He actually paid attention to their conversation for the first time in a while, when they were talking about Cassie. Chuck was telling Sarah how he hoped Cassie wasn't really dead, and how he thought she was going to come back like Larkin did. Casey knew it wouldn't happen. He had seen the two bullet wounds, her vest had only stopped one. He felt her fading pulse, her dying breaths.

He found himself digging out the photo album again. He looked through the pictures over and over again, commiting them to memory as much as possible. Chuck and Sarah had long since stopped talking, and it was near three a.m. when he put the album away. He wasn't tired, he wasn't sad or angry anymore. He just didn't know what to do. For the first time in his life, John Casey was lost.

He didn't answer the door when Chuck came knocking in the morning for a carpool check, he ignored every frantic call from him and Sarah, and even blew off a call from the general. He stayed in his recliner all day, not wanting to do much of anything. The six pack Chuck had brought over earlier that week still had five beers in it at his feet, he didn't even want to get wasted, not that the cheap piss-water Chuck had bought would've done it anyway.

Finally, when he was thinking about caling the general, telling her he was retiring and staying in that chair until he died, Chuck let himself in. He looked around and couldn't help but laugh at the sad state Casey had fallen into. "Hey, big guy. How's a shower sound?" Chuck teased.

Casey only growled half-heartedly at Chuck's proposal. "Oh, come on. Your gonna waste away because you think Cassie's dead? Isla wasn't dead, Bryce isn't dead, why would she be?"

"Can it, Bartowski. I saw her that night on the roof. She's dead. Now go away."

"No, you can't just give up hope. Get up, get a shower, and lets go. Sarah told me to get you because your bosses want to speak to us, but you won't answer your phone."

"She's dead," he yelled at him, and beamed his phone at Chuck's head.

"Hey, not cool. Well, regardless, you need to get moving." Chuck left, amazed at his own words.

A wave of realization was spreading over Casey. He wasn't sure what exactly it was at this point, but it motivated him to get out of his chair, shower and go back to the Buymore with Chuck.

Their briefing wasn't very pleasant, yet Casey seemed strangely chipper throughout the whole thing.

"Needless to say, this wasn't one of your best missions. Adham got away and we lost a skilled agent due to rookie mistakes. However, the terrorist group has left Los Angeles, and LAX is still standing, so it wasn't a complete failure. But, because of the circumstances, consider yourselves benched," General Beckman told them. The screen went black before any of them had time for objections.

"So, whose fault is it this time?" Chuck asked, expecting to get lashed out at and repremanded about something he did wrong, as always. However, they both just looked at him.

"Um, this really wasn't anyone's fault," Sarah told him. Casey nodded in agreement. Chuck looked from Casey to Sarah, and Casey's strangely relaxed manner to the odd, knowing smile Sarah was giving him.

"Did I miss something?" he asked. Sarah laughed at him and Casey just walked away. Chuck stood in the doorway to the home theater room, trying to figure out what exactly just happened, then ran after Casey. "Casey, don't leave me here, your my ride home! Come on! This place is creepy at night. Guys?"


	9. Revelations

Casey let himself into his apartment, closing and locking the door behind him. He was in a strangely good mood, giving the events of the week. As he reached for the light switch, he heard a gun click behind him. He smiled to himself. "There you are," he said.

"You know I never leave without saying goodbye."

"True. So what's going to happen now?" he asks as he starts to turn around. The gun clicks again. "Don't turn around. I don't want you to see me. Plausible deniability. Besides, you saw me on that roof, do you really want to see that again?"

His smile widens. "I'm sure they've fixed that up."

"How can you be? Your not even sure if I'm really here."

He nodded. "So, where are you going to now?"

"Depends on where they send me."

"So this is it?"

"What do you think?"

He didn't answer.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye, Major. Maybe I'll see you around."

Casey turned around and no one was there. He wasn't sure if she was there or if he had imagined it to put his mind at ease, but he thought he could faintly smell her perfume.

_Author's note: This is the end of this story, but another story I'm working on bring's Cassie back. Maybe physically, maybe just mentally, but she'll be back. It has to do with past events, but because of Chuck and the Intersect, they are made modern, in a sense. Keep an eye out for Chuck vs National Treasure, and Thanks for sticking with me to this point, and hopefully past it._


	10. In Her Arms Again

Chuck had been feeling lost ever since Cassie's death. Sarah had noticed and decided to take action. They were watching TV one night, alone at Chuck's, when she made her move. "Chuck, are you all right?" She asked him, noticing that he was completely zoned out.

She waved her hands in front of his eyes and he didn't react so she pinced him...Hard. "Ow." He jumped. "That's gonna leave a mark," he said, rubbing the already bruising spot.

"What's wrong?" Sarah asked him again.

"You just pinced me."

"I mean before that. I thought you loved Heroes, but you weren't even watching it."

"I don't know."

"It's Cassie, isn't it?"

Chuck nodded and clenched his hands together in his lap.

"You loved her?"

He nodded again. "I was going to ask her out on Valentines Day. I was trying to figure out the best way to do it, since I'm not exactly good with relationships."

"I'm sorry Chuck." She put a comforting hand on his shoulder, not quite sure if it was a hug kind of moment or not. He finally looked up from the floor. To her surprise, he was smiling.

"I hate Valentines Day."

Sarah laughed uncomfortably, worried about where this was going. It had been two months since her and Chuck broke up their cover and promised they would be friends, but it had been a hard promise to keep. Before Sarah knew it, Chuck was brushing a lock of hair out of her face and moving in for a kiss. Their promise was melting away and she was kissing back. Before they got any further, however, they were interupted, or rather, saved, by Morgan. He had come in through his Morgan door with hopes of being entertained, and stumbled awkwardly onto the scene. Sarah and Chuck broke apart and Sarah, fighting back a rising blush, stood to leave.

"It's getting late, I really should be going. Besides, you two probably want to hang out, or whatever." She left and Chuck turned exasperatedly to Morgan.

"Why?" Chuck said, his expression dropping.

Morgan shrugged and shook his head. "Sorry?"


End file.
